ABSTRACT
Gilbert Simondon was one of the first philosophers of technology who was interested in an analysis of technological artefacts in a time when most philosophers were busy with views on the relationship between technology and society. However, in contemporary philosophy of technology, the philosophical analysis of technological artefacts receives a lot of attention. Simondon distinguishes three levels of objects: elements, the components of which an autonomously functioning object is made up and individuals, the autonomously functioning object and ensembles, objects in the context in which they function. His first book deals with the question what it is that distinguishes something individual from the rest of the world. This distinction is, according to Simondon, especially contained in a process of genesis and in his last book he applies this to technological artefacts. Simondon also shows how technological objects can differ by functioning more or less dependent on their context.
